The 2016 election is a little over 18 months away which can be a lifetime in the world of politics.

It is assumed by most people Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. Martin O’Malley may have something to say about that but as it stands at this point, Hillary is the runaway choice to secure the nomination.

As for her potential opponents, the GOP field is still being fleshed out with only Ted Cruz making it official. Two other GOP Senators, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul are expected to announce their candidacies within the next two weeks.

Hillary Clinton’s lead over her would-be GOP foes has slipped in three critical swing states as the growing controversy over her email use has dominated coverage of the likely Democratic presidential candidate.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush scrapes past Clinton with a three-point lead, still within the margin of error, in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup in Florida, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday. Clinton had a one-point edge in the Florida dead heat Quinnipiac reported in early February.

The last two months have also erased Clinton’s previously double-digit lead over every other potential GOP contender for the presidency in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Sen. Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning Republican from Kentucky, is now the man to beat in Ohio after he narrowed his margin against Clinton to just a five-point deficit, according to Tuesday’s poll. Paul, who is expected to announce his bid for the presidency next week, trailed Clinton by 12 points in Quinnipiac’s early February poll.

Pennsylvania is going to be a critical state for Republicans and a well run campaign and GOTV operation in that state could turn it red so those numbers should concern her team.

Hillary Clinton’s favorability ratings continue to tumble as she re-enters the political fray, with 43% of respondents now saying they view her positively, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, down from a high of 60% in 2009.

Clinton’s email troubles along with that bad press conference (where a lot of what she said has turned out not to be true) have no doubt contributed to the latest drop.

When she officially makes an announcement, she will be in the public that much more. It will be interesting to see how the numbers continue to shake out.

The electoral college votes are counted in a joint session of Congress, both houses of which have Repubican majorities. Why would you expect them to overturn the Constitution to install Hillary Clinton as President?

Leaving aside her record as SecState, with our relations worse with every nation in the world (except possibly Iran, Cuba, and the PRK) than the day she took office, Hillary just is not a good candidate.

She dislikes “folks,” and resents having to pander to them. She couldn’t have won even in deep blue New York if cancer hadn’t put Giuliani out of the race. She was “inevitable” in 2006, too, with a huge money lead and hundreds of endorsements, and lost to a con artist with no achievements at all.

Hillary may or may not run, but she is the biggest obstacle to her ever winning.

And without any other Democratic contender….she could still get the nomination.

The Clinton strategy from the very beginning of Bill Clinton’s career has always been to compare favorably wth their opponents – they find or create problems wih the opponents.

“Disqualifying” her opponent (or having no serious one) is her entire election strategy.

Also getting a “bad” opponent into the race. For the 1984 Gubernatorial election in Arkansas they had ex-Governor Orville faubus, of 1957 Little Rock school crisis fame. He was backed by the Stephens brothers, who had earlier backed Bill Clinton. I don’t think that wa sbecause they were now opponents of Bill Clinton. That was in an attempt to get a chief opponent who was disqulaified in the eyes of many voters.

Besides disqualifying candidates, she would prevent candidates from running (by, for instance, sucking up all campaign contributions, and strongly discouraging anyone from contributing to competitors, except maybe whom they would like to be the opponent.)

Bill and Hillary Clinton need a Republican candidate who can be demonized or rendered unacceptable in some other way.